Soldering iron mended - and NON amateur radio DIY

I am quite pleased with myself, for once.

Although I still get tired, I seem to be less profoundly tired than I was. Today I managed to remove the plug on a spare 24V Weller soldering iron tool that I found and attach it to the base/24V supply. I checked it works  - it does. So I currently have 2 working soldering irons.

Also, I managed my first (minor) DIY job by repairing a trellis support on our bungalow front wall. I also raked out some dead moss from the front lawn ready to re-seed the patches. In the past, these would have been trivial tasks, but now they are major steps on my oh so slow road to recovery.

Recovery from my cerebellum brain bleed (Sept 2013) is very slow, but I am slowly getting a little better.

Hendricks Kits

These days, with dirt cheap kits from China often with free airmail, it is sometimes a wonder that any USA or UK kit companies exit at all. One of these I have mentioned before is Hendrick Kits, which always has a good selection on their website. These are best value if you live in the USA. Several kits are shown as "retired" which I guess means they did not sell well or they had problems with reproducibility. One favourite is the derivative of the BitX SSB design from Ashlan Farhan in India. This uses easily obtainable parts and has been a well proven design. Hendricks sell versions for 20m or 17m.

See http://www.qrpkits.com/bitx20a.html .

It looks like they have just moved so there might we a little delay until early May.

The power out, around 10W, should ensure plenty of contacts. These 2 bands are usually good even when the sun is quiet, so make a good choice. You have to choose either 20m or 17m SSB. I am sure Western kit companies would really value our business. "Use it or lose it", is a phrase often used about bands. In this case it apples to amateur radio kit suppliers. If we don't buy from them they will close their doors and cease trading. I am as guilty as anyone having recently bought a 40m Pixie kit from China.

From the Hendricks Kit website:

"The BitX20A and BitX17A are complete SSB kits with board, all parts, digital display and custom powder coated and punched case that is based on the BitX20 that was designed by Ashlan Farhan. The original version was built ugly construction, and you had to source all the parts. I discovered the BitX20 site on Yahoo in 2007, and decided that the BitX20 would be a neat kit for Hendricks QRP Kits. The problem was that it did not have a pcb. A team of Dan Tayloe, Jim Kortge and Arv Evans have worked countless hours making sure that the pcb version was stable and would meet United States F.C.C. Specs. We had to go through several revisions to get it right, and we are happy with the result, even though it took a long time. Some things just take time. The kit includes a commercial quality plated through, silkscreened, solder masked board, and all board mounted parts, plus the polyvaricon tuning capacitor, digital dial, custom powder coated and punched case, knobs and controls. Everything you need to build the kit is provided.
I encourage you to check out the BitX20 users group on Yahoo. They have agreed to provide support for the kits. There are hundreds of messages on there about the history and development of this kit. Our kit puts out about 10 watts, features dual IRF510's as finals in a push-pull arrangement. The schematic is available at the Bitx20 site on Yahoo. Cost of the kit is $180.00 plus shipping and handling."

The BitX looks a nice, useful radio. For a beginner it is just about all you need to get started.

472kHz daytime

G3WCB (101km) has been spotting my 5mW ERP from the earth-electrodes most of the morning. My last spot from The Netherlands was at 0528z by PA0RDT although I was spotting PA3ABK/2 at 0552z. When conditions are better I can usually be copied by Dutch stations at almost at any time night or day.

Sunspots and 10m - Sat April 18th 2015

Sunspot number has risen to a very respectable 92 (K=2), but 10m propagation remains "fair" only. I have the feeling I could get spots from the USA later this afternoon. So far this morning, lots of spots from locals G4IKZ (18km) and G4KPX (14km)  and a few spots from UA4UK (2814km). No other DX yet spotting my 500mW 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1256z:  This morning it was mainly locals spotting me, but RA6WF (3628km) spotting me a few time was, like UA4UK (2814km), most probably single hop F2 propagation. I am still expecting a brief 10m USA opening later.  No earth shattering 10m DX this morning on 10m WSPR.

UPDATE 1500z:  16 spots (so far) on 10m WSPR spots this afternoon by EA8BVP (2986km) and at lunchtime by EA1FAQ (1249km). The EA1 is almost certainly Es judging by the time and distance, although I suspect the EA8 is single hop F2 propagation. I am still hopeful of a few USA spots later.

Sporadic-E (Es)

We are now on the verge of the summer Es season in Europe and the USA, so 50MHz should be good out to about 2000km. Occasionally much further is possible, allowing Asian, South American, Caribbean and North American stations to work Europe.

There is a good explanation of sporadic-E on the UKSMG website.  See http://www.uksmg.org/content/sporade.htm . If you are not familiar with this mode then I suggest you read it.

Es is great fun and just 1W ERP of SSB is enough to work most of Europe, and even beyond, from the UK.  Openings on 70MHz are less common and even less so on 144MHz. There are even more Es openings on 28MHz. If you have a big, high beam and high power it will help, but Es signals are often strong and I have not found QRP is much of a handicap on 50MHz Es. Yes, if you are after tropo or MS DX then I am sure the bigger ERP would be useful, but far less so with Es.

Personally I hope there is far more use made of WSPR this Es season. WSPR allows short openings to be seen: it requires plenty of active stations though. The temptation is to abandon the quieter bands and move downwards.  Before leaving 50MHz, think just how much your presence on WSPR could mean. By staying around and sending or looking for WSPR signals you would be really contributing to radio research.

Field work?

My tiredness is still a problem but I am getting closer to restarting field work at VLF.  I bought a new soldering iron and have found a replacement bit for my old Weller iron (it needs a plug removing before I can use it though) so I should be able to match my 5W earth-mode VLF beacon to the earth-electrodes at this QTH. This will then allow me to do a trip to my first location to see if I can copy the signal. I hope to do all this in the next few days. It may need my XYL to help, but I am sure she will not mind! You may recall, I tested the RX side with Spectran in the lounge a few weeks ago and could copy the earth-electrode VLF beacon (running QRSS3 into a dummy load) using an E-field probe.

10m USA spots

Only local spots by G4IKZ (18km) all day, apart from one spot by 4X4TAU (3564km) at 1018z.   No sign at all of spots from the USA, and I feel this is unlikely to happen.

UPDATE 1556z:  Still no sign of USA spots here on 10m.  Still transmitting, ever hopeful.  Only 39 stations are shown on WSPRnet as being active in the world. We need a few more!

UPDATE 1955z:  This is another day without any spots from stations in the USA. No USA spots at all and only one station other than locals all day. Will be going QRT on 10m WSPR quite soon.

472kHz WSPR

Very quiet since breakfast time. PA0RDT (243km) has spotted me several times, but nothing since breakfast.

Sunspots and 10m - Friday April 17th 2015

Sunspot number is 85 (K=4) today and 10m propagation is expected to be "fair". Based on yesterday, I am not expecting my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon to be spotted by USA stations today. But, as always, 10m may surprise us!

So far this morning local G4IKZ (18km) and just one spot of my 10m 500mW WSPR beacon from 4X4TAU (3564km) not long ago. No further DX spots reported.

472kHz (630m) WSPR rather than 6m

Overnight and today I have stayed on MF rather than QSY to 6m.  Another few weeks and I shall definitely turn my attention to 6m. I think I was rather too early (time of year) to catch any 6m Es.

On 472kHz, the best spot of me was by G3XKR (347km) in North Devon several times overnight.   My best spot was of DK7FC (669km) several times last evening. His report would have been much better with an optimised RX. I know my 472kHz RX system is deaf.   It has been very quiet all morning on MF.

UPDATE 2000z:   G4JVF (151km) has spotted me several times this evening on 472kHz WSPR.